Mail-bag catcher



N0. 752,334. PATENTED'FEB. 16, 1904'.

0. P. mammgn'r. MAILBAGV GATOHER; APPLICATION FILED IAUG. 18, 1903.

N0 MODEL.

W/TNESSES': IN VENTOI? W W QPw/%(wza A TTORNE Y Patented February 16, 1904.

PATE T OFFICE.

OTTO P. W. EHRHARDT, OF SEATTLE, WASHINGTON.

MAIL-BAG CATCH ER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters PatentNo. 752,334, dated February 16, 1904.

Application filed. August 18, 1903. Serial No. 169,953. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

- Be it known that I, O'r'ro P. W. EBIRHARDT, a citizen of the United States, residing at Seattle, in the county of King and State of Washington, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Mail-Bag Catchers, of which the following is a specification, reference being had therein to the accompanying drawings.

This invention relates to devices intended for use in receiving mail-bags or expresspackages at railway-stations by a train while in motion; and the object of the inventionis to provide means to catch the mail-bags without shock to the apparatus or to the mail-bag even though the train be moving at full headway.

The invention consistsin the novel arrangement and combination of parts, as will be hereinafter fully described and finally pointed out in the claims.

In the accompanying drawings, wherein similar letters of reference denote corresponding parts in both views, Figure 1 is a perspective View of a mail-bag receiver embodying my invention shown attached to'part of a carbody, and Fig. 2 is a longitudinal vertical section taken through the shaft.

In the drawings, (t represents a hollow shaft having closed ends a and e and provided with diametrically opposite longitudinal slots 6. Adjacent to the ends of the slots and integral of the shaft are collars c, which provide abutments to bear against socket-supports 0?, secured to the car in' proximity to the door-opening D. The sockets d thereof are arranged with their axes in the same horizontal plane, or nearly so, and are severally connected to their respective bases d by a pivot in order to permit the shaft being tilted up for easy removal and for which purpose one of the said sockets is made with a hinged cap-piece e.

' p f is a sleeve mounted loosely upon the said shaft and carrying integrally therewith a transversely-arranged and forwardly-point: ing hook g and ahandle h, diametrically opposite each other. Integrally connected to the said sleeve and extending through the shaft is a cross-bar or key f, which is connected by a rod 6' with a piston d, positioned in the chamber in at the advance end of the shaft. is is a small aperture adjacent the said shaft end for the passage of air therethrough. Between the said cross-bar and the other end of the shaftand interiorly of the latter is a compression-spring Z, and to permit the insertion of the same I make the end a of a plug having ascrew-thread upon its cylindrical surface, which registers with a corresponding thread of the shaft-bore. A latch m is pivotally connected intermediate its length by a pin 4?. to lugs of said sleeve and is adapted to engage with any of a series of notches 0, provided in the outer surface of the shaft, by a spring 8.

The operation of the invention is as follows: When the hook g comes in contact with the mail-bag, which is supposed to be hung upon a support within the path of its travel, the striking force received from the bag will drive the hook, with its sleeve, rearwardly until its momentum is overcome by the power of the spring Z and the resistance to expansion of the air between the piston and the end a of the shaft. The travel of the hook being checked and the spring continuing to assert itself would be driven back to its initial position at the extreme front end of the shaft-slots were it not for the said latch, which engages with the adjacent notch, the speed of the sleeve meanwhile being opposed by the cushioning of the air within the shaft-chamber aforesaid. The hook is kept in alinement to engage with the mail-bags which it is to receive by a longitudinal bar 7, extending across the car-opening, and which upon being removed permits the shaft being rotated so as to bring the bag within the car.

It is obvious that by reversing the ends of the shaft the device is operative in either direction.

Having described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is I 1. In a mail-bag catcher, the combination with a hollow shaft, provided with an air chamber at one end and oppositelydisposed longitudinal slots, a sleeve carrying a hook and mounted upon said shaft, a cross-bar integral with the sleeve passing through said I slots, and a spring-latch pivoted to said sleeve and adapted to engage with any one of a ,series of notches prov-ided upon the exterior surface of the shaft; of a spring positioned interiorly of the shaft between the said crossbar and one of the ends of the shaft, and a piston integrally connected by a rod with the cross-bar and positioned in an air-chamber provided in the opposite end of the said shaft. 2. In a mail-bag catcher, the combination of a hollow shaft provided with an air-chamber at one end, and having longitudinal slots extending from a short distance of the said chamber toward the other end of the shaft, a sleeve carrying a receiving hook mounted upon said shaft, and a piston" positioned in said air-chamber and integrally connected with the said piston.

between the said cross-bar and a plug inserted in the end of the shaft, and a spring-actuated latch pivotallyconnected with the said sleeve and adapted to engage with a series of notches provided on the said shaft.

In testimony whereof I aflix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

OTTO P. W. EHRHARDT.

Witnesses:

PIERRE BARNES, T. G. GREesoN, 

